


a happy ending that nobody knows

by gamesetmatch



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff I guess, Gen, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 09:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18518539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gamesetmatch/pseuds/gamesetmatch
Summary: In a timeline where Uruk did not go out quite so boldly, a bang and then nothing left but the river Euphrates that flowed through what once had been city streets.King Gilgamesh abdicates the throne gracefully to his son, Ur-Nungal, now the sixth king in the First Dynasty of Uruk.





	a happy ending that nobody knows

**Author's Note:**

> In a timeline where Uruk did not go out quite so boldly, a bang and then nothing left but the river Euphrates that flowed through what once had been city streets.
> 
> King Gilgamesh abdicates the throne gracefully to his son, Ur-Nungal, now the sixth king in the First Dynasty of Uruk. He had been a glorious and tumultuous king who left Uruk in ruins and then brought it back to unprecedented prosperity. He was the Wise King who would remain a god in his people’s hearts for all the time and civilization to come.
> 
> Having led his kingdom for 126 years, if he had any wish or regret left, it must be that. A change of scenery, in a forest somewhere with a warm creek and gentle breeze for the last of his days. An unrestrained place of nature where he could forget man and gods and answer the call from his friend to return to the earth.
> 
> It’s there, on a lonesome mountain where not even birds sing, that he finds the answer (garden) to eternity.

“Father, you will not stay in Uruk?” His Majesty the King Ur-Nungal asked again.

The father in question, the recently-abdicated former King Gilgamesh had announced to him his plans for both retiring and spending some days outside of the city.

The open plains and unfettered sunlight would do his father good. Ur-Nungal was certain of this, but of something else he was equally certain.

Though he did not say it, it would be the last time Gilgamesh would use the city gates. Being two-thirds divinity, the god-king led a longer life than most. Outliving his wives and his attendants, his hair was still more gold than white. Who among them could be blind to their king’s thirst for adventure? He was the best king they had ever had and will ever have. But he thrived in the heat of an earth-shattering battle, sought for tales in the farthest and strangest of lands, and sitting on a static throne aged him more than the throne of time ever could.

In all likelihood, it was the last conversation between this father and son. Ur-Nungal traced the proud warrior’s stature and could not find the words to protest. As the son he wished to care for his father to the end of his days. As a citizen of Uruk, that desire that warred with knowing that he could never provide what his king needed. His head bowed and he lowered to his knees.

Gilgamesh eyed his son who he still found too soft-hearted for rule. He could tell his son was holding back tears at his departure. How had he raised such a crybaby son? Looking back, he did like to dote freely on children. Ur-Nungal’s early onset of teeth cavities was evidence plain as day.

However—in a time of relative peace and abundance, perhaps his temperament wasn’t a negative thing. For more than a century he had personally led his city to all the possibilities that he could see. Uruk would be a foundation of humanity, with all the threads in the future connected to this place and this time. A fresh perspective and the opened verses it could usher in was the only thing left that the Uruk under him could not reach.

And so, “I leave Uruk to you. May you lead its civilization to treasures I would not have dreamed of.”

When Ur-Nungal raised his head, it was with an answering smile for every story of a legend that was sure to travel back to his ears.

“Yes. I bid you good health and farewell, Father! Entrusting Uruk to your humble son, please journey the world and partake in its pleasures and delights, and expand the horizons for our people.”

Everyone was lined along the streets to send off their king. They smiled through their tears and grieved with days of feasts and joyous festivities. They were truly his peoples who embodied his will. 

Gilgamesh had been born to be their king. In all of the futures he foresaw, he would remain proud of this fact.

  
  


 

The road that stretched in front of him opened to infinite landscapes. Without a destination in mind, Gilgamesh walked across the land. He hunted small animals as he came across them and used them as warm-ups for fiercer prey. Wielding a divine axe, throwing priceless swords, that was his way of fighting since a long time ago. It came back to him like a second wind in his lungs, movements flowing naturally as if not a day had passed since his frivolous teenage days. 

He stopped in towns as he passed them and drank his fill of ales and wines. The townspeople who recognized him, for many had been to the golden city-state of Uruk and many more had heard of its golden king, welcomed and advised him of places where beasts were particularly dense. This directed his travels for three cycles of the moon until he came to a remote village on the foot of a mountain.

The villagers walked with hunched shoulders like they were dragging the weight of demons on their backs, and their hospitality was appalling. But Gilgamesh generously waived their crime, persistent as he was in getting them to open up.

And what an interesting story they told when they did.

A wandering demon who took residence in their sacred mountain and shrouded it with his sorcery. The villagers who climbed the mountain always ended back at the base of it, having had their perception of the sky and the ground inexplicably interchanged. 

How was that for a setting befitting the Epic of Gilgamesh’s next and final part?

“Bring out your finest wine! Tonight, we shall hold a great feast to replenish my strength. In the morning, I will depart for the summit and meet with this demon.”

He left the village with such assuring poise and grandeur that everyone was with renewed spirits. Their problem would be settled with certainty.

A group was sent to the mountain one month later. This group successfully scaled all the way to the peak and found no trace of the formidable god-king nor the mythical demon. 

Naturally, the king must have moved on from the region when he completed his quest. He must have gone farther west. He would have crossed the oceans, and eventually gone to the stars.

Such an epic scale of travel was not in the sights of ordinary people like them, but it was surely in the reach of a great god-king as he.

And as the days passed and fewer reports reached Ur-Nungal’s hands, the hundreds of lanterns that floated up the river Euphrates every year became dedicated to his memory: a moon festival for the one that was certainly still watching over them in another universe.

  
  


 

Flowers covered every inch of ground. Where his boots trod on and culled, new stems and petals grew from the remains.  
The dreamscape extended before him was a vision he had seen, once upon a time.

Finally, he approached a metal gate. The words etched on the bars were ones he could recite from his memory.

“Let only those without sin pass.”

A clear voice joined with his.

The scenery changed around him.  
An everlasting utopia on the other side of the world.

  
  


 

The world spins. The winds blow. Trees topple. The roots regrow. A cicada sings. Great lands tremble. Seas rise. Cities fall. New cities are born from the ashes, and the cycle begins anew for as long as this Earth supports the essence of life.

 

A human walks, and runs, and dreams, and reaches the moon.

Though their stories will end, in an everlasting utopia called Avalon, two beings watch through the beautiful impermanence of it all to the end.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a random piece where I just wanted to praise Gil to heaven and back and also have him and Merlin watch the TV show that is humanity together. Merlin will have a buddy to chill with & Gil can watch humanity's development and future creations all he likes, the best timeline


End file.
